Conventional laundering techniques for the cleaning and treatment of fabric articles such as garments have long involved both traditional aqueous based washing and a technique commonly referred to as “dry cleaning”. Traditional aqueous based washing techniques have involved immersion of the fabric articles in a solution of water and detergent or soap products followed by rinsing and drying. However, such conventional immersion cleaning techniques have proven unsatisfactory on a wide range fabric articles that require special handling and/or cleaning methods due to fabric content, construction, etceteras, that is unsuitable for immersion in water.
Accordingly, the use of the laundering method of “dry cleaning” has been developed. Dry cleaning typically involves the use of non-aqueous, lipophilic fluids as the solvent or solution for cleaning. While the absence of water permits the cleaning of fabrics without the potential disastrous side effects water may present, these lipophilic fluids do not perform well on hydrophilic and/or combination soils.
Because lipophilic fluids typically clean hydrophobic stains, hydrophilic and combination stain cleaning is typically not achieved to a desirable level. It would be desirable to include an aqueous vapor step in the dry cleaning process in order to extend the soil removal performance of the dry cleaning process while still limiting the disastrous effects aqueous solutions can have on so-called “dry clean only fabrics.”
Accordingly, the need remains for a dry cleaning method including an aqueous vapor application step that is safe for a wide range of fabrics.